CPUs

Which one should you go for?

There is a never-ending debate in PC performance forums on the Core i5 and the Core i7 and the differences in performance. This debate doesn’t seem to end and more so when it comes particularly to the Core i5 7600K and the Core i7 7700K. This debate may not be objective at times granted that users will defend the hardware they use and see it as the better choice. We shall have a look at these two processors and try to be objective in this review. There are a few differences and many similarities between these two processors. We shall be looking mostly at the differences and how they impact performance.

The 7700K and the 7600K are both very powerful processors. There is not much difference between them in terms of performance. However, there may be slight differences here and there depending on the particular use that the processor may be put into. Talking of performance, the 7700K can be said to be better in overall performance than the 7600K. This is especially when used as a workstation processor. In terms of gaming, the jury is still out, but we have seen the 7700K perform slightly better when running the latest games. The 7600K however is still a powerful gaming processor and some people will swear by it. Let’s delve deeper in the differences between these two processors and which one you should buy based on your needs.

Hyperthreading

Both these processors have four cores. However the 7600K has four threads, one thread per physical core. The 7700K uses hyper threading having two logical treads per core. This is one of the major differences between these processors. Hyper threading comes in handy in improving performance of multi-threaded applications. More the cores and threads will serve to improve performance. However, hyper threading may slow down applications that not optimized for it. In gaming, hyper threading is not as important. Most games will be fine with at least two cores with single threads and most will perform optimally with four cores with single threads. Hyper threading may affect performance in some games.

Clock Rate

Clock rate is very important in processors. When comparing processors, it can become difficult to gauge performance based on clock rates if the processors are not from the same family. In our case, however, the 7700K and the 7600K are from the same family and thus we can compare. The 7600K has a clock rate of 3.8GHz which can turbo boost to a high of 4.2GHz whereas the 7700K has a clock rate of 4.2GHz which can turbo boost to a maximum of 4.5GHz. The 0.4 base frequency difference is significant to affect performance. We can therefore say that the 7700K, with a faster clock rate should provide slightly better performance than the 7600K.

L2 and L3 Cache Size

Plainly speaking, the more cache available, the better the performance since more data can be retrieved faster. In most processors, the L1 cache size has been almost standardized. L2 and L3 are important if you want more performance especially for gaming. The 7700K has a 1024KB larger L2 cache than the 7600K. This can only mean that it will work better with high end graphics cards and provide a more superior gaming performance. The 7700K uses the 8 MB L3 Intel Smart cache whereas the 7600K uses the cuts this down to 6MB. However, a word of caution here, a larger cache is desirable but may mean higher latency. Having a balance is thus important.

Temperatures

Both these processors can be said to be fairly cool on idle. The 7600K on 28 C while the 7700K on 32 C. However, while rendering the 7700K can get fairly hot reaching temperatures of 73 C whereas the 7600K gets to 63 C.

Price

The Core i7 7700K goes for $339 whereas the core i5 7600k goes for $242. There is almost a $100 difference. For people with the 7600K, it may not be worth replacing it with the 7700k. the difference in performance is minimal especially when overclocked . For gaming, the 7600K may be good value for money. The extra 100 bucks could be used for a better graphic card which could improve your overall experience. However, the 7700K performs much better as a work station processor. It will also perform better for newer games. These are mostly games that thrive on memory bandwidth. If you are building a PC to use for several years to come, either as a workstation or as a gaming PC, the Core i7 7700K is what you should go for since ap;;ications and games may be optimized for this processor.

What a year we are having so far in the CPU arena. The long awaited AMD Ryzen processors finally making their way onto the scene. It is hoped that these new additions to the market will fire up the competition between Intel and AMD again. And that price cuts and continued innovation in this sector will start to reappear. Think back in 1999 when the AMD Athlon first smashed the 1Ghz limit and ignited the now legendary rivalry between the two companies.

That is the hope, however we have yet to see any cutthroat pricing come through from the Intel camp. Therefore nobody can deny the dominance that Intel has in the market at present, and this is thanks to their Core i3, i5 and i7 range of processors. Moreover this dominance has led to a perceived slow down in innovation from the Intel camp. As a result it has opened the door for AMD to sneak back in with lower costing units.

We’ve gone ahead and gathered together 5 of the best CPUs on the market. Moreover we compiled a few vital statistics for you to take a look at so that you can make the best decision when looking to upgrade or build a new system in 2017.

This may not appear to be the best CPU to choose to start a ‘Best Of’ type of article. It needs to be stated that as far as budget CPUs go, this is a really good deal.

For starters, we have high clock speed right out of the gate, 3.5GHz in this instance. Which is insane when considering the price point that this CPU comes in at. Next we have Hyper Threading support sitting at 4 simultaneous threads. Which is pretty average by today’s standards, but again at this price point it is almost impossible to find this kind of value anywhere else.

The integrated HD Graphics 610 is not a great gaming solution, not by any stretch of the imagination, but you could look at a reasonably priced graphics card from our GPU round up over here, and use your CPU savings from this little chip to go towards your graphics card budget.

Next on our list is the now very familiar enthusiast favorite, the Intel i5-7500. Seen as the perfect Gaming CPU by many. It has a good price and more than adequate features and performance to validate such a claim. The i5 has been a staple in many a gaming PC builder’s catalog for a few years, and it is easy to see why.

Clock frequencies start at 3.2GHz and can soar up to 3.6GHz when under heavy loads. Temperatures are stable and the stock cooler does an okay job at keeping things running at acceptable temperatures. Recent developments have caused the pricing on the i5 CPUs to drop quite nicely, mainly due to the impact that AMD’s Ryzen range of processors, so deciding on buying an i5 maybe a bit trickier than it was a year ago.

Wow. As far as new product launches go, the Ryzen series was met with many good reviews. This is largely in part to their highly technological approach to their design considerations when creating this product. The core and thread count is amazing, considering it’s price and target market.

While this CPU performs well in a gaming rig, content creation is where this CPU really starts to shine. Things like video editing and 3D rendering are all man handled by this chip’s impressive 6 cores and 12 threads, easily pummeling the likes of Intel’s i5 in these CPU intensive tasks.

For many people the deciding factor when trying to build a new rig will be what purpose the PC will serve, and what motherboard chipset is available to compliment their choice.

Intel’s i7 7700K is a beast of a CPU. Due to it clocking in at a whopping 4.2GHz at stock frequencies. Optionally with the added bonus of Turbo Boosting to a whopping 4.5GHz. This means that in single core operations that there isn’t much out there that can touch the 7700k. Which is good news for gamers that don’t need anything too fancy in the multithreaded arena.

Intel has been criticized for not innovating their platform further by adding more cores and threads to their i7 range at a more affordable price. Even though this is about to change with AMD’s Ryzen that launched earlier in the year.

But if you want a no-nonsense, high performance CPU then you don’t need to look anywhere else, the i7 7700K will hold off the competition for some time yet.

Ryzen strikes again with it’s upper tier CPU, the 1700. While not able to topple Intel’s top of the range i7 offerings. it packs a punch. Therefore it manages to beat the i7 7700k in multithreaded benchmarks and in some synthetic tests as well.

Unfortunately for the 1700, the raw power of the i7 7700k’s CPU in single threaded mode and is able to outperform it in the gaming side of things. Moreover this is due to it’s much higher base clock speeds.

But when comparing apples with apples we need to remember that Intel’s i7 7700k only has 4 cores and 8 threads. Or about half of what the Ryzen is packing under the hood. If you were to buy a comparable CPU from Intel then you would be spending about three times more than what you would on the Ryzen 7 1700.

As we saw before with the AMD Ryzen 5 1600, AMD appears to have created a really special CPU range here, and their multithreaded handling is excellent and the overall feel of the CPU experience is a good one.

For anything multithreaded then this is a solid choice indeed and is a content creator’s dream.

The Verdict

Therefore, this is a good time to be alive for a PC enthusiast! Moreover there are so many great products coming at us all the time. There is something to suit everybody’s budget and taste. From entry level go-getter CPUs the G4560 from Intel, to the multi threaded muscle from AMD. There are options out there for everyone.

For those that don’t have an awful lot of money, a budget friendly CPU such as the aforementioned Intel G4560 is a great place to start. I have no qualms with recommending this highly clocked dual core CPU. If you aren’t looking to do anything too thread intensive such as 3D rendering or video editing then this little CPU would make an excellent choice as a media PC or a light gaming system.

For my money, I can’t see anybody going wrong with a Ryzen 7 1700. Furthermore if given the choice I would definitely look at building my next system around this ground breaking architecture. My only word of warning, and it’s one that I bring up whenever there is a new product release. Is to wait it out for a little bit while the bugs are ironed out on the new motherboards for this CPU.

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